Blood
by Jasmin Kaiba
Summary: He had spilled more blood in his lifetime then he cared to think, but he never, ever dreamt of her blood coating his fingers. One careless mistake on his part cost him her precious life. Sess/Rin, character death, one-shot. R


**Blood**

**By Jasmin Kaiba**

* * *

He had spilled more blood in his lifetime then he cared to think, but he never, ever dreamt of her blood coating his fingers.

All had started that morning when Yaken and Rin came back from a nearby village, where they had gone to gather supplies. The first thing that alerted him to their return was the smell of Rin's blood. He'd turned around and seen his young ward walking towards him, small hand clasping a bleeding cheek. He instantly saw red. Controlling his rage, to prevent jumping to wrong conclusions, he tried to think clear. Maybe she fell, she was a bit clumsy, it was probably an accident. Still he needed to know.

"Rin, what happened?" His tone was hard and cold. His concern for her hidden beneath thickly flowing rage, as the young girl averted her gaze to the floor and bowed her head. When she fell and scarped herself, she would sheepishly smile at him, comment on her clumsiness and let him lick the wound for it to heal faster. From her reaction at that moment, he knew something had gone wrong.

"Jaken, explain!" The little toad jumped and looked fearfully at his Master. Sesshomaru growled and Jaken blanched, gripping his staff tightly to his chest, squeaky voice telling what occurred at the village.

"Sesshomaru-sama! It was horrible! I had let Rin out of my sight for a second to look at some scrolls as she browsed for food items, nearby. Then a young priest, accompanied by a miko came. When they saw me they started asking questions. The villagers, who had apparently heard of your ward traveling with two youkai, told them who we were. They tried getting Rin to come with them, saying they would free her from you, my Lord. I tried stopping them, but they put some spell on me, I couldn't move. When Rin refused and demanded they let us go, the priest struck her in the face. She kicked his shin and started running, probably to get you, my Lord. I made a mistake by calling her name; she turned around just as the miko fired an arrow in her direction. Luckily the wench had bad aim and it only scarped Rin's cheek. Seeing what happened, I used all my power and broke the spell, the used my staff to drive them off. We made it back without problems."

Sessomaru felt anger boiling within him. How dare those lowly humans harm Rin? Obviously they hadn't heard enough stories about him and his terrible wrath. He'd give them a lesson on how to treat property of the Great Demon Dog Lord of the West.

Calming his rage for a second he walked over to the terrified girl and lifted her chin. He gently peeled her hand from her cheek and looked at the cut, it wasn't deep, just long, with proper care it wouldn't scar. He leaned down, and gently with utmost care licked at the wound, scooping up the blood and cleaning it, his saliva already staring the healing process.

"Rin, when the wound closes wash the blood off your cheek. It won't scar. Wait for me here, I'll be back shortly, and then we'll resume our travels."

Chocolate orbs looked shyly into his golden ones as she nodded her head and smiled slightly.

"Hai, arigatou, Sesshomaru-sama."

The sight of her smile always calmed him, gave him a sense of peace, but not this time. At that moment it only evoked the rage at the thought that it could have been slipped from her face forever by ignorant lowly creatures, they're going to pay for what they had almost done. And if a mark was left from where that cursed ningen had dared strike her, he'd revive them and kill them again, providing Hell's torment on their body and soul.

He had caught the scent of the lowly priest from Rin and easily found him and the miko in a hut, little ways outside the village. They were apparently siblings.

Without warning he'd struck, and run his poisonous claws through the man's heart from his back. The miko had screamed, but he'd silenced her quickly with his claws through her stomach. Some priests they had been, they didn't even sense him. Inuyasha's mate, the miko, would have sensed his rage miles away, and the perverted monk as well. Those two had either been fake or wielded no real spiritual power.

He snarled looking at the bow in the miko's still hand. Her arrow wouldn't have any effect on him, even if she had managed to fire one. A mortal's weapon without the spiritual, purifying energy of priests and mikos did little to harm him.

Satisfied that he had avenged Rin, he cleaned his bloodied claws and returned to the woods where his ward and Jaken waited for him.

Rin was sitting on Ah-Un's back, swinging her legs back and forth with Jaken looking up at her from the ground. The wound on her cheek had healed and she had cleaned the blood away. No bruise marred her soft skin and Sesshomaru was satisfied.

Walking to her as she slid from Ah-Un to greet him with her usual bright smile, he asked if she was alright. She nodded her head, hair flying everywhere, eyes bright and warm, and her heart-beat singing a happy melody to his ears. She was happy again.

He stroked her head as her walked past her to Ah-Un, fastening the saddle once more, preparing him for her to ride. He could feel her turn to watch him and envisioned her soft smile in his head. As long as she was happy everything was good.

Then he smelled that miko's blood. Sure that he had killed the damned wench he turned around in confusion and saw her standing few feet behind Rin, her arrow pointed at her back.

Before he or even Jaken could react she'd fired the arrow and in a horrifying second he saw as Rin's back arched, eyes widening, mouth opening on a soundless scream and the arrow came out of her chest, right between her budding breasts.

The miko, bleeding heavily, collapsed to the ground but managed to shout out to Rin.

"You little whore this is your entire fault! Die!"

She didn't get to a word more, Jaken who'd first recovered from the shock, had burned her to a crisp within a second.

Sesshomaru didn't have the energy to be angry, all he felt was pain. With shaky knees and unsteady hands he grabbed onto Rin who'd started to fall on the ground.

As his knees gave out under him, he slid to the ground and gathered her small body into his embrace, cradling her head on his mokomoko. Fading chocolate orbs gazed at his face and a smile grazed her lips yet again. The happiness she felt in her heart when he was near didn't go away even when death knocked on her door.

"Sesshomaru-sama..." Her voice was so small and soft that his demon ears had problems catching it. His clawed hand rested gently on her cheek, thumb caressing her soft skin. He knew he couldn't do anything for her.

"_Nama no... naka_

_Mori... no naka_

_Kaze no naka..._

_Yume no... naka_

_Sesshoumaru-sama... doko ni iru_

_Jakken-sama wo shita... naete_

_Watashi wa... hitori de machimashou_

_Sesshoumaru-sama omodori... wo..._"

The little song she'd crated and sung for him so many times before fell from her lips in a broken whisper, and Sesshomaru, for the first time in his life felt wetness of tears gathering in his eyes, but he pushed them away, it would not do to sadden her with his grief.

Suddenly her frail form was wrecked with coughs as she spit out blood. He held her tighter to his chest.

Seeing her open her mouth to say something again, he leaned his head closer, to listen to the almost inaudible voice.

"Sesshomaru-sama... Don't forget Rin... Onegai..."

The light in her eyes was almost completely faded as her nuzzled her throat and whispered loud enough for her to hear, "Never."

He felt her smile as she whispered one last time to him.

"Arigatou... Sesshomaru-sama... Aishiteru..."

She exhaled her last breath with her admission of love and her eyes closed for eternity, a smile still played across her lips, even in the cold clutches of death.

The daiyoukai buried his face further in her neck, ignoring her weeping toad to his left, consumed by the immense grief, unable to hold emotion in, any longer.

His youki flared around him and red seeped in his eyes, his demonic marks on cheeks and wrists became ragged, fangs and claws lengthened, energy enveloped him, he took his true from, white fur coated in the blood of the only person her ever cared for. His mighty jaw clenched shut, then released such load and painful yowl that the ground beneath them shook.

Jaken watched in fascination, sorrow and fear as the all-powerful inoyoukai, curled his huge body around the broken shell of the precious girl and continued to yowl, singing the song of a wounded soul.

* * *

Miles away in the village Edo, the miko Kagome, who'd been teaching Sagno and Miroku's twin daughters archery, jerked her head towards the Inuyasha forest when she felt a familiar youki flare up suddenly in such intensity that she shuddered. Miroku looked up from his resting place beneath a tree having felt the same and Inuyasha stilled his play with Miroku's son and his own twin sons as he heard his brother's yowl. Understanding the message and pain the song carried, he shut his eyes and spoke a silent prayer for the young girl's soul, praying for his brother as well, to maintain his sanity.

Pity welled up in him as he looked at Miroku's daughters, Rin had been only fourteen summers old, he didn't wish to understand Sesshomaru's pain.

He locked eyes with his mate and Kagome understood, letting go of her bow she cried silently and prayed to whatever God to have mercy on the souls that crossed Sesshomaru's path from that day onward. The world was not ready for a daiyoukai unleashing his wrath on it, so shortly after being rid of Naraku.

* * *

For a few short years rumored had spread of the Great Demon Dog Lord of the West having softened up, after taking a little ningen girl under his protection. All those rumors were proven false repeatedly for a century as the said Lord caused destruction unseen upon the world in his grief and anger.

Sesshomaru could still, even after a century, smell her blood on his hands...

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**AN: My first Inuyasha fanfic, on my favorite couple and I just had to made it angst. I dunno why, inspiration struck. I hope you liked it that that you'll review, telling me if I should continue writing for Sess/Rin or stay away. Feedback appreciated.**

**Jas **


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